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POLITICO 44

President Barack Obama has billed Thursday’s health care summit as a chance for lawmakers to “seek common ground” to solve a decades-old problem.

He doesn’t want political theater, he insists, but a serious effort to forge bipartisan consensus.

And yet Obama is unveiling a health care bill just days before the six-hour summit that wouldn’t require a single GOP vote, with plans to short-circuit the Senate rules and push it through without Republicans if necessary.

That’s left some Republicans angrily questioning whether the summit is a sham and even Democrats uncertain and noncommittal.

“I’m not terribly heartened by what I’ve heard over the past week,” said Georgia Rep. Tom Price, a conservative Republican who wasn’t invited to the health care talks at Blair House on Thursday. “I’m not certain what the White House is up to, but it appears they are trying to meld a bill together without, again, any input from Republicans. It doesn’t sound like bipartisanship. ... I’m afraid it’s just another photo op.”

House Minority Leader John Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, said that “it would be baldfaced hypocrisy to continue hammering out the latest partisan backroom deal while preparing for a ‘bipartisan’ summit.”

The White House plans to release Obama’s bill Monday and previewed one aspect of it Sunday night – a proposal to give the federal government sweeping new authority to curb excessive rate hikes by the nation’s health insurance companies.

The proposal seems designed to play off voter anger toward recent double-digit increases by Anthem Blue Cross of California and adds a populist tinge to Obama’s proposal, of the president standing up to big insurance companies. The idea wasn’t included in either the House or Senate health reform bills that passed last year.

The Democrats’ push to reform the health care system has always moved on two tracks: the public track — what the president and others say in public — and the private one — what they negotiate behind closed doors.

But those two efforts seem at odds this week like never before, as Obama makes a final public pitch for bipartisan cooperation — with live TV coverage, no less — at the very moment he seems most prepared to abandon it completely. He’s trying to engage Republicans to make his case for reform but is laying the groundwork to go around them if they won’t sign on.

The White House's announcement of Obama's legislation Monday would serve as the template for a final bill, and barring any last-minute Republican conversions, Democrats would attempt to use a procedural tactic that only requires Democratic votes in the Senate to pass it.

An aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) let reporters know last week that his boss wants to add a public option to the final bill if Democrats choose to pursue a once-arcane procedural maneuver called reconciliation, in which the ruling party only needs a simple 51-vote majority for passage.

But even Democratic leaders are queasy about whether they can muster the votes to pass it in the post-Massachusetts environment. Senate moderates, in particular, have rebelled against the idea of using reconciliation to pass reform.

And on a conference call last week, Democrats in the House agreed not to embrace the president’s plan until their rank and file has had a chance to review it this week after returning from recess, according to people on the call. As late as Sunday, four separate House aides said they didn’t know exactly what the White House is planning to propose.

The stakes for Obama couldn’t be higher. Despite a year of having sizable majorities in the House and Senate, he has been unable to bring fractious Democrats together to complete health reform. Now he and the party are heading into the 2010 midterm elections with little in the way of popular initiatives to show for a year in power, and the White House is anxious to pass a health care package filled with voter-friendly provisions.

Readers' Comments (344)

Political Chess: Keys to Victory YOU CAN'T LOSE, IF YOU DO THIS: 1) Dems to fight for a public option 2) Repubs to promote their plan 3) Obama's plan should have NO public option, so he can control the middle of the board. 3) Use the MSM to show ALL the example of Obama trying to compromise, including his attempts with other legislation. 4) We need for EVERY political operative in the media to question the conservatives credibility, concerning bipartisanship by giving examples of repubs saying one thing & doing another; questions their sincerity. 5)Obama has to have the ability to call an audible at the line without everyone freaking out. NOTE:The images of Republicans holding stimulus checks are like silver bullets in a vampire movie. http://algore.org/blog/black_c...

Mirror Mirror on the Wall = dont be fooled "this man is now attempting to build a legacy and accomplishment that will give him a future audience that pays hims millions to travel the Globe in style and tell the world how wonderful he thinks he is and how lucky america is to have had " post his ONE term .

This is the Obama version of Kubuki Theater. It is just a Chicaco-style SCAM and Diversion. But the Republicans are on to this president so he might get a few surprises. Hopefully. It is clear that Obama is not interested in TRUE REFORM. He is only interested in Wealth Redistribution and a big fat PAY-OFF TO HIS UNION THUGS. Otherwise he would scrap this horrendous Bill that 61% of Americans have REJECTED and want no part of. The people will take their pound of flesh in November if this corrupt administration tries to shove this pile of dung down our throats with a 51 vote UNCONSTITUTIONAL debacle.

You DO remember the Constitution, don't you, Mr. Obama? You know, the one you swore to defend before all enemies, foreign and domestic?

This is a horrible and very scary picture of the President of our country. His true character really comes through. He looks like a cheap Chicaco Thug politician. A Dictator! Not very flattering, Barry! You look almost maniacal, for heavens sake!

This is a horrible and very scary picture of the President of our country. His true character really comes through. He looks like a cheap Chicaco Thug politician. A Dictator! Not very flattering, Barry! You look almost maniacal, for heavens sake!

Check out the cheesy Roman collum in the background as well. This guy is a real dud and not much of a president.

It's purely a photo op. With respect to Mr. Gibbs saying that this is what the Republicans have wanted, a televised session with HRH - it was in fact the president's idea LAST YEAR that these hearings be televised on CNN - again, they are twisting the facts to purposefully mislead the American public.

BUT, if the president is releasing a bill, why don't the Republicans do the same? Do they have anything to talk about? Who is stopping them?

Who and what do you think has stopped them thus far? This has been a monumental effort by the republican party and the people of America who participated in the town halls. And, the same people who elected Scott Brown. Can you not see that. To date they have been stopped. If you remember Obama wanted this done in one week in August.

Republicans wanted transparency and now here id there chance. If the American Taliban Conservative movement has better ideas then the Dem.'s then lets see them. This is an opportunity for them to get away from the party of NO and also an opportunity to change the way we do politics in America. Why is the GOP so afraid?

Easy question - it's a photo op. This administration is all about photo ops. Appearance over performance. Fantasy over reallity. Lies over truth. Find out what the people want to hear, then tell it to them. It doesn't matter if that's what you're actually going to DO.

Look, people. This is the first true Hollywood president. He's just like a Hollywood set showing a big, beautiful mansion. But when you get close and look behind the hype you see that it's nothing but a big pice of plywood with a mansion painted on it, being propped up by a few two by fours.

Aww, c'mon you guys--this is your last real chance to freak out because people will be able to go to the doctor!!!!!

Is this the best you've got? Whatsamatter? The free pizza spigot and the cash drawer at Freedomworks are both dry?

GOPers need to be careful what they wish for, because SOMETIMES you get what you ask for. And that is going to be DEFEAT in a couple of days.

Republicans used the "televised meetings" meme as a photo op for the last month or two. I see a "time out" in the corner with gum on the noses of all of these obstructionists within the next 60 days. You can thank your paymasters for this victory-in-waiting.

“I’m not terribly heartened by what I’ve heard over the past week,” said Georgia Rep. Tom Price, a conservative Republican who wasn’t invited to the health care talks at Blair House on Thursday. “I’m not certain what the White House is up to, but it appears they are trying to meld a bill together without, again, any input from Republicans. It doesn’t sound like bipartisanship. ... I’m afraid it’s just another photo op.”

Yet another photo op with no real interest in the ideas that the Republicans have. Sheesh. What a waste of time, although it is a good idea for those Republicans who were actually invited to attend to show the hypocrisy on the left.